Selling Illusions
by Glitter's Infatuation
Summary: Satine has sent Christian away, and her feelings culminate with disasterous consequences. Tissues at the ready!


Selling Illusions 

By Glitter's Infatuation

The large communal dressing room was fit to burst. Thousands of frilly petticoats hung from the beams, while hundreds of underwear-clad can-can dancers raced around getting ready to meet their prospective "gentlemen" for the night ahead. Baby Doll was racing around with her hair full of rollers, Gypsy was heavily underscoring her eyes with black kohl, Exotic was trying to apply her rouge while Petite Princesse desperately tried to push past everyone to the large mirrors for make up. Marie hurried back and forth, to and fro, collecting bits and delivering pieces. The chatter became an incessant hum of activity, mixed in with various singing voices. The backstage was alive, and not a single thing was still.

Except for Satine.

She sat, huddled into a corner, gazing out of the tiny window next to her. The warm Parisian air gently blew her red curls in soft tendrils around her face, causing them to stick to her cheeks as they mixed with the tears that flowed softly. Satine sat lost in a daydream, a sweet memory of fond times with Christian, when she was brutally torn out of it by Nini knocking into her.

'Come on, diamond, get your legs open, you got customers t'night.' Nini's voice was its usual sarcastic self, yet Satine felt no emotions. She was dead. Well, as good as, anyway. What was life worth living if it couldn't be spent with the one you love?

'Go away Nini.' Satine's voice was soft and hollow, void of anything.

'Sweet-cheeks, can't go moping about because your little Shakespeare ain't a rich git. Take 'em as they come, shag 'em and get the diamonds. Get a nice little bonfire goin' later, maybe we could use the old Spectacular Spectacular script, eh?' Nini's tone was taunting, and this time Satine felt her blood boil.

'Go away, Nini, leave me alone.'

Nini leaned against the wall next to Satine and began to hum. Tears sprang quickly in Satine's eyes as she recognised the tune of 'Come What May' filling her mind, suffocating her, trapping her. Something snapped, and Satine grabbed Nini's neck and threw her to the floor.

'STOP IT, JUST STOP IT!' Satine grabbed a hairbrush from Judo's hand and threw it at the three giant mirrors. The brush seemed to almost float through the air, until two mirror smashed, causing chaos to ensue and shards of glass to fly though the air. 

'Satine! What the hell is wrong with you?'  
'Are you trying to kill us?'  
'Just 'cause Shakespeare-boy is gone, don't take it out on us!'  
'Are you all right?' 

The final line was spoken in soothing tones, tones that calmed Satine's storm. She gazed through her thick eyelashes and saw Baby Doll peering gently at her. Satine tilted her head downwards, causing her hair to cover to face. Underneath her, small milky teardrops hit the shards of glass, making the hazardous floor look like it was glittering. Baby Doll took a small step closer, and Satine's head shot up, her eyes wild and bloodshot and a small scratch down her one cheek. The blood trailed slowly down. 

'Look at us! What have we become? Slaves to the rich! We are NOTHING' Satine shrieked, while the girls all stood, their heads low, some picking at bits of glass while others simply listened.

'We are illusionists! We are selling illusions, things that they want to see! I had the chance to love; to fly away, and now I'm stuck here forever. We could be in love! We have been lost to the evils. We are DEAD.'

Satine threw herself to the floor and began to scrabble around for glass. Finding a large slither, she lifted her head and smiled bitterly.

'Some of us have to escape our own way.'

Before anyone could react, the glass flew across Satine's wrist, and shiny blood pooled and dripped to the floor. Some dancers ran out, while others fainted, but still no one tried to save Satine. Except for one.

'Dammit, bitch! There's more than dying! We will get away, I'm telling you.' Nini grabbed Satine's shoulders and tried to shake her out of her stupor. Her neck was still red, but Nini still shook the dying star, but Satine was oblivious. She was in her own world of love.

She slid quietly to the floor, and everyone stood around watching. They knew that she would never forgive them for saving her, so nobody tried to. As the darkness silently overtook Satine's body, she whispered one final line to the remaining girls.

'One day we'll fly away…fly…fly…away…'


End file.
